Event Centre + Rivers District Development Update
A Statement from Councillor Carra
In a moment when our health, education, and justice systems are in crisis, as we face the monumental task of providing sufficient housing for every person that currently calls Calgary home as well as those who will come to our city in the decades ahead, as we search for stability and opportunity while the very real ramifications of climate change surge, I am deeply sympathetic to outrage that the current government’s election-time priority for Calgary is an Event Centre for Calgary’s professional sports franchise elite. However, there is also a range of inaccurate information and misdirection of discontent circulating alongside this news- all of which continues to polarize and further divide our community.
The opening proposition of my 2021 re-election campaign was that city-building is hard work. Four years before that, in 2017, I ran for re-election alongside Mayor Nenshi whose campaign explicitly formalized our work in the Civic Centre, East Village, and Victoria Park as the GreenLine-anchoring Culture + Entertainment District. Working with two provincial governments, that Council wrangled into existence a generationally city-shaping funding package that would give the Culture + Entertainment District its major set-pieces: the new BMO Centre; a renewed Arts Commons; a renewed Glenbow Museum; and, a new Events Centre to replace the end-of-life Saddledome.
Following the 2021 municipal election, in the midst of the pandemic, with supply chains shattered and interest rates skyrocketing, this new Mayor and Council looked across the table at our Event Centre partners and mutually came to the realisation that we were at the brink of building a building that would be significantly more expensive than originally planned, and most-disconcertingly, was insufficient to accomplishing either parties’ programmatic goals. In the immediate aftermath of that deal collapsing, and despite acrimonious public discourse and political saber-rattling throughout the community and amongst members of Council, we promptly and unanimously reaffirmed our commitment to a new Events Centre as an essential component of the Culture + Entertainment District, and we embarked on a process to reinitiate the project based on our learnings to date.
The principle that had anchored the negotiation for the previous iteration of the Events Centre was, “no public money without commensurate public value.” The deal we ended up striking was, at face value, a bare-bones, break-even proposition - financially we had forecasted a ~1% return on the ~$260million we were bringing to the project over the 35-year term. I supported it because I am committed to the proposition that our city’s Culture + Entertainment District needs a new Event Centre, and, from a frankly realpolitik perspective, because the politics of that Council necessitated support for the Event Centre in order to secure funding for the rest of the program.
The deal that was just presented to this Council is very different and undeniably much better than the previous arrangement - which is why all 15 members of Council voted in favour. The previous Event Centre proposal failed to be either architecturally inspiring or truly public, we were poised to build a box that faced the district on all but one of its block-long facades with essentially blank walls; the proposed Event Centre will now contribute to the City’s skyline and meaningfully engage the public realm on all four sides with a community rink and indoor and outdoor public plazas nestled along the south(Stampede)-facing facade. More importantly, all the previously unfunded public infrastructure necessary to support the buildout of the entire district is included in this deal; the biggest move being the 6 ST SE underpass, which will provide a multimodal connection between Victoria Park and Fort Calgary (ultimately including the Indigenous Gathering Place.) Perhaps least understood, but most importantly, land ownership arrangements between the City and the Stampede, which were unaddressed by the previous deal, are now elegantly resolved for both parties, making the Stampede financially whole and allowing for the City’s sale and buildout of the private realm (hotels, restaurants, shops, and thousands of homes) - which is the ultimate point of, and payback for, all this public investment.
There is no doubt that without the electioneering gambit of $330million of free money from another order of government, this deal would not have presented itself to us. It’s important to remember that the GreenLine was also a product of similarly desperate and blatant electioneering - the initial $1.53billion federal commitment was thrown at Calgary by Harper’s conservatives (lead by Jason Kenney) on the brink of their defeat to Trudeau. It’s also important to note that while I believe there are many ways in which $330million of provincial money might be better allocated to have greater direct impacts on improving the lives of Calgarians - primary and secondary education, healthcare, housing, police reform and emergency response, transit and intercity rail, revitalization of our Downtown proper, recreation and arts and cultural facilities, - it’s essential to realise three things:
1) building out the Culture + Entertainment District is fundamentally a good thing for Calgary and Calgarians;
2) City Council wasn’t offered a choice in how this money might otherwise be spent; and,
3) with the low taxes Albertans pay and the fossil fuel surpluses our province enjoys, no one should be characterizing this $330million investment as the only money we could or should expect from the provincial government in support of Calgary’s best future.
I’m going to close with a few statements intended to clearly present my opinions on the matter, provide the rationale for my decision, as well as hopefully counter the misinformation and misdirection of discontent that is swirling around this big piece of news.
Firstly, as a member of Calgary City Council, I have the honor of representing a city that is both fully deserving of its world-class livability rankings, as well as in need of significant reinvestment right now in order to maintain that top spot as we continue to evolve and grow long into an uncertain future. When $330million presents itself in the service of achieving a significant, years-in-the-making and multiple election cycle-vetted city-building objective, my job is to say yes.
Secondly, while I acknowledge that the Event Centre and the Culture + Entertainment District might potentially have been otherwise achieved in different ways on different timelines, there is too much other work to do, and uncertainty is too costly in too many ways, to not take a good deal when it presents itself.
Thirdly, while outrage at public money and other considerations to support billionaires has legitimacy, it would also be problematic to fail to consider that those billions were made from the economic opportunities of this place, and with the natural resources that are our public property. In a time when capital is extremely mobile and the super wealthy can reside wherever tax regimes best insulate them from societal obligations, a major part of this project is ensuring that this wealth remains Calgarian and is incentivized to continue to make our great city even greater. Of any possible arena deal, this one does that as well as it seems possible.
Finally, while it’s undeniable that the $330million contribution from the province on which this deal is based is deliberate electioneering, I believe that the announcement occurring before the writ with final confirmation occurring well after the election takes place to be an ideal timeline. While it’s true the implication reads: re-elect this government if you want this deal (and conversely: vote out this government if you hate this deal,) I really hope as Calgarians and Albertans we can be much more thoughtful about our future at the ballot box. In the same way the Trudeau Liberals and the Notley NDP were able to undertake due diligence before participating in funding the GreenLine, the timeline associated with final ratification of this deal gives the post-election government sufficient time to review this opportunity and make their own choice. Politics in Alberta often pits base politics against base politics, each side drawing simplistic takes from complex matters. I am hopeful we are able to create space for patience and thoughtfulness to prevail, and to allow the opportunity for a generational city-building project to be fairly vetted when the time comes.
To learn more about the Rivers District and Event Centre Project, including answers to many FAQ’s, please visit: calgary.ca/major-projects/event-centre